9/26
So we took our first daytrip with Aphrodite today…We went as a group to the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and Mars Hill. Whatever I write here simply won’t do a justice to how amazing those places were. Even the pictures can’t show the impressiveness of those buildings, the antiquity of the ruins, or the feeling of standing where the apostle Paul stood 2000 years ago and preached to the Athenians. It was just awesome. We got on the metro and went three short stops (prob 5 minutes total) and when we got off the Acropolis was right there. We had all seen it before, but everyone was pretty pumped to get up there. First we went to Ancient Agora, which was basically the town meeting center, situated at the base of the Acropolis. It was beautiful and basically filled with gardens, ruins, temples of Greek gods and more ruins. Ancient Agora, for those who don’t know, was where the concept of democracy was thought up. It was awesome to sit there where Plato, Aristotle, and other big time philosophers thought up that stuff, especially, when it has such huge implications on our society in America today. Very cool stuff. We sat and listened to Aphrodite tell us about everything for about and hour or so, then made a quick stop at the Acropolis museum before we made the hike up to the top. The museum was cool…My favorite thing was the Spartan shield on display. It was easily 4 feet by 4 feet of pure bronze. I can’t imagine holding it, let alone fending off guys with swords.
Our first stop after that was Mars Hill. There was a plaque (see facebook pics) that I got a picture with before we climbed about 50 feet up rocks that marked the spot where Paul preached. It was in Greek so I had no idea what it said. However, the climb up the rocks was worth it. It was an amazing view and even cooler, it was cool to stand in a place that remains pretty much the same from biblical times and has such great significance in my faith. It was easy to see why Paul would preach from here. He had a natural speakerphone and could basically preach to huge crowds from a very recognizable point. Again, this was one of my favorite parts, just because it was cool to think of the spot that I was standing in, I’ve read about in scripture.
The main destination was the Acropolis. And man, it was up to the hype. The Acropolis consists of a bunch of temples, but the most famous is the Parthenon. I really can’t say how impressive these buildings were. Not only were they huge, but the way they were made must have been awesome for them to stand this test of time. It was a little disappointing to see scaffolding on the Parthenon, but still cool, nonetheless. There was really only one word to describe it…impressive. The Acropolis, according to Aphrodite, was built after a huge victory by the Greeks over the Persians. They built it to basically thank their gods for seeing them through victory, and while they were exhausted from battle, they went right to work. I couldn’t help but think, man, these Greeks must have loved their gods. Which led me to think even more, what would we, as Christians do for our God? Their gods clearly were fictitious, but ours is real, alive and more powerful than any figment of their imagination. He also paid a price for us that we will never be able to pay that is was more significant that any assist in battle…It made me wonder how willing I would be to carry rocks the size of Volkswagens up mountains for my God... It was a little sobering to think about that. It was definitely an awesome day filled with some great memories and I got to see some really awesome things. And that was all before 4 p.m.
Now, were heading out to dinner at one of the girl’s apartments and then out and around the city with a newly made Greek buddy, Deo.
Later
Ryan
